Empty Melodies
by Junsui Kegasu
Summary: You must put your heart and soul into the piece, my student, because if you don't, while the result may be pleasing to the audience, you as a musician shall never be satisfied. Demyxcentric one shot


Empty Melodies

By: Junsui Kegasu

A/N: Fun with Demyx. Underlined terms are defined at the bottom for your benefit.

Disclaimer: I own nothing here - although I will say that if you can guess what song Demyx is playing you're amazing, because I didn't realize it could be that until I thought about it for a while xD

* * *

An _A-flat_, to the audience of those with refined musical tastes, would sound, perhaps not terrible, but most certainly off and probably not extremely pleasant. However, as the bleating pianissimo resonated through the Hall of Empty Melodies, it sounded beautiful, breaking the wavering law that the name of the room imposed. Skillful fingers turned at a brass fine-tuner until the note slid into a cheerful _A._

_A_ was Demyx's favorite note - the tuning note for everything he had ever decided to play, including his precious sitar (even though he would assume that the flute and the clarinet were supposed to tune with _B-flat_. Ah, well). Many of the residents of The Castle That Never Was complained about the constant, dreary weather of their city, but Demyx found that not only could he enjoy the presence of his beloved water, but it also stayed so constant that nothing ever fell out of tune.

He was rather surprised at this violin as he brushed over the high _E_ string tentatively. He then did a double-stop over the _A_ and the _D_. Finally, he ripped the bow across the _G_ to find it, too, perfectly in tune. He had found it in Agrabah (all wrapped up in its cute little case with a bow sporting the most beautiful arch and whitest hair he had ever seen, along with a cake of the finest rosin out there) and taken it here. It was a wonder that the only thing it did was its slide into _A-flat_. Agrabah was quite possibly the polar opposite of The World That Never Was.

Deciding to just be grateful for the treat, Demyx played a few experimental spiccato notes on the low _G_ before bursting into an ascending sixteenth-note scale. He shifted on the _E_ string into sixth position to manage three octaves out of the whole thing and then whirled back down, accelerating just slightly until he ripped the bow across the same _G_ he started on and letting it resonate. It was a beautiful instrument, indeed, one of the best he had ever played upon. But despite its distinct lack of screeches and squeaks from such harsh bowing, something was missing.

He frowned and thought for a moment, fading into a soft melody that he made up as he went along. He emphasized elegant vibrato and frequent crescendos to piano and then diminuendos back to pianissimo. As soft, sweet, and tear jerking the melody was, there was something still missing. Swiftly, Demyx made a sharp crescendo and began playing the same tune in more of a marcato style, except that it sounded awful on the frail notes, so he changed the key. Now the tune sounded angry, frustrated as he 'felt' while he tried to discover what the whole song was lacking. It was not force, nor was it nurture, so he accelerated into a two-octave scale before slowing down to end with a fermata on the same note he started the whole tune upon.

Something was still missing. The words of an instructor whose name slipped Demyx's memory and would probably never slide back in came to him, passionate in a stoic kind of way. _"You must put your heart and soul into the piece, my student, because if you don't, while the result may be pleasing to the audience, you as a musician shall never be satisfied."_

The violin clattered to the floor with the wincing snap of wood and a glissando as the thin strings snapped. Demyx stormed away jerkily, a pressure in the back of his throat welling up and making everything seem hot and unbearably sticky. Behind him, the tiny echo of an _A-flat_ kept ringing in The Hall of Once-More Empty Melodies.

**

* * *

EXPLANATION FOR UNDERLINED WORDS FOR THE MUSIC IMPAIRED **

Pianissimo - often marked in music as "pp", nearly the softest a musician can play. Often used by string-players when tuning in groups so that the individual can grasp the general pitch around him and tune accordingly.

Double-stop - while playing stringed instruments, playing two open strings at the same time

"...beautiful arch..." - for stringed instruments, a bows arch can determine how well a person can play in certain styles - a dramatic arch is most appreciated

"...whitest hair..." - if a bow's hair is white, it means that the user is taking excellent care of the bow ands being sure to rub enough rosin into it for friction.

Rosin - can also be used in dance, but in a powdered form. Here it refers to a block of tree sap (I think) that a string player rubs into their bow for friction on the strings. Without any rosin, you won't get much of a sound, or it'll be screechy.

"shifted on the e-string ..." - shifting is when the musician places his hand further down the instrument to reach a higher note. Sixth position is... ridiculous to play and Demyx should be shot for ever going that high on a violin. Ow.

Vibrato - hard to explain and especially hard to teach... it's a movement with the wrist and fingers to make the note being played vibrate. It makes the song sound more matured.

Crescendo - getting louder as you play

Piano - slightly louder than pianissimo

Diminuendo - getting softer as you play

Marcato - detached, accented style of playing

Fermata - holding a note longer than what is written, usually to the conductors tastes

glissando - REALLY REALLY FUN TO PLAY. ...sorry. Um... instead of finger a note (for example, placing one finger and then three for the next beat) sliding into it. In this case it occured because the strings loosened when the instrument broke and their pitch was sliding down.


End file.
